


Character Traits of You

by Izcana



Series: 15 Minute Snapshots [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Classroom, Comfort, Gen, I am Malala (Book), No Fandom - Freeform, Not really a relationship, Prompt-Inspired, Young Love, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27207307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izcana/pseuds/Izcana
Summary: Predictably, Aura has an answer. Somehow she always has an answer on hand? "It proves that Malala is independent.""Great," Malia says, typing that, too. "Two more to go. I think one way the setting influences the character [Malala] is the fact that she's raised in Swat, which made her very open to everyone and she also values family very much, because of the way she was raised and the people she was raised by and with.""That's a valid point," Tommy agrees, wanting to sound at least educated in front of Aura."True, true," the said girl comments, giving a shrug. "We should put that in, Malia."
Relationships: Pre - Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Series: 15 Minute Snapshots [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1982485
Kudos: 3
Collections: Fantastic Original Works, Quote Prompt Memes





	Character Traits of You

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [quoteonlyprompts](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/quoteonlyprompts) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> "You make me feel like I'm not good enough."
> 
> Any fandom welcome.  
> Bonus points for BL, though. lol
> 
>   
> Credits to "I am Malala", by Malala Yousafzai, I used a quote from her book.  
> All the explanations (theme analysis) are valid, by the way. I actually did all of it as a project for my English class, though, of course, this wasn't how my discussions went (since what I wrote here was all individual work) and the names below are not the names of the people in my book club : )  
> You all should read "I am Malala", by the way. It's very interesting and there are many valuable themes.
> 
> The story is written in Tommy's perspective.

"What do you think we should put in this column?" Malia asks. 

"There's a quote in the book that says 'I am very proud to be a Pashtun but sometimes I think our code of conduct has a lot to answer for, particularly where the treatment of women is concerned.' I think that'd work well for our theme." Aura says, pointing out the reading passage.

"Sure," Malia mumbles, quickly typing it.

"Wait, hang on, huh? What does that have to do with the theme?" Tommy asks, rubbing his cheek with his palms. "I don't understand."

"This quote is repeated in the story in different words and it shows that Malala was really trying to imprint this in our mind when she wrote the book. She didn’t like it and wanted to make a change," Aura explains. "Basically, what I think the theme is here is 'all humans should have the same rights even if they're different from you'."

"Yeah...that makes so much more sense now, thanks, Aura," Tommy mutters, his cheeks turning a vivid red quickly. Aura had to explain that to him! Ouch. He thought they were all on the same level and that's why they're in the same book club. But, maybe they're just the three highest in the class (and they're obviously the three highest since Aura's in their group and she's definitely the smartest. No question.) but they're very far from each other. All Tommy knew was that Malia and Aura were obviously smarter than he is. And he's also (admittingly) has a crush on Aura. _Great._

"Now we just need to find something to put for character traits and then we're done!" Aura announces, looking fairly proud of the work they'd put in so far. "Mrs Biaden will definitely be happy with this...perhaps we can get an A+ on it!" Tommy glances shyly at the girl, his heart fluttering at the smile. A+ was (and Aura could agree with this too) basically the only thing Aura got on her report card, though she was modest about it.

"You always get A+, Aura," Malia drawls, picking at her nails. "Don't get your knickers in a twist. Also, you're the only person who even _says_ 'perhaps', anymore."

Aura sighs and wordlessly flips through the worn dog-eared book. "Character traits...Oh, here! 'Unlike my father, I took precautions. At night, I would wait until everyone is asleep – my mother, my father, my brothers, the other family in our house and any guests we had from our village – then I’d check every single door and window. I’d go outside and make sure the front gate was locked.' Ziauddin refused to do this. However, Malala knew when to be independent and get something done by herself if she believed that it was going to benefit and no one was doing it. Here, their safety was in danger, and even though Ziauddin disagreed, saying it was fine, Malala still put the effort in to make sure everything was locked and bolted, as mentioned in the previous quote," Aura says, flipping back and forth between the pages again.

"You literally talk like you're reciting an essay," Malia says with a snort.

"What a great friend you are," Aura flicks back at Malia, snickering.

"Anyways..." Tommy interrupts. He didn't really want to get between their banter, but they were really pressed for time. "So what? What does that prove?" That's the third-to-last column and then they're done.

Predictably, Aura has an answer. Somehow she always has an answer on hand? "It proves that Malala is independent."

"Great," Malia says, typing that, too. "Two more to go. I think one way the setting influences the character [Malala] is the fact that she's raised in Swat, which made her very open to everyone and she also values family very much, because of the way she was raised and the people she was raised by and with."

"That's a valid point," Tommy agrees, wanting to sound at least _educated_ in front of Aura.

"True, true," the said girl comments, giving a shrug. "We should put that in, Malia."

Soon, the spreadsheet was all filled out and it was almost time that English class ended. "I think we did a pretty good job," Malia declares, stretching. She gets up slowly. "I'll go print it."

"You make me feel like I'm not good enough," Tommy says, finally plucking up the courage.

"Excuse me?" Aura blinked. 

"You're so amazing at everything, and I guess I'm just...insecure?"

"You'll get the hang of it, eventually," Aura says, laying her pale hand gently on top of Tommy's outstretched and tanner one. "You'll be fine. I'll help you."

"Thank you, Aura."

**Author's Note:**

> I've never watched BL before, sorry!  
> I do hope this was worth your time...
> 
> If you liked it, please leave kudos or a comment – it would make my day!  
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
